What am I doing and what is the point?
This is a question asked by many people,
including in an article in the Sydney Morning Herald last Sunday.
Author Lisa Leong told a story about a musician friend of hers
who, in the first lockdown, had lost her job.
She was a musician and her job wasn't considered essential.
It made her feel devalued when she lost her job.
And the author reflected that our sense of self
is often wrapped up in our identity.
And so when we lose a job, we can feel devalued.
And she suggested that the biggest blow to losing a job
is not just dollars, but the hit our identity can take.
She suggested that it's because our identity gives us meaning
and purpose in life.
And I think she's hit onto something there.
She's come from outside Christianity,
but I think she's hit onto something quite interesting there.
Our identity gives us meaning and purpose.
Have you ever felt devalued?
Have you ever questioned, what am I doing?
What is the point?
What is the purpose of my life?
Maybe you felt like that musician who looked at the things that she did,
the fact that she could no longer do what she thought gave her purpose,
and she felt like she had no purpose.
Have you ever felt like, you're just questioning,
what am I doing?
Because when we have these things taken away,
we can feel like a leaf adrift in a river.
I'm sure that there's at least one person here in the building
or watching at home online
who maybe has lied awake late at night thinking,
what is the point?
What am I doing?
God, what is my purpose?
What do you want me to be doing with my life?
And that is the challenge set before us today.
Just a small question
to dive into some of life's deepest questions.
Who am I?
And what am I here for?
We are in our vision series as a church,
a time where we refocus as a church
about the direction we're going in.
And we've been looking over the last three weeks
to see who we as a church are to be,
particularly within a culture
that is battling racism amongst other challenges.
And this week we are changing tack slightly
from thinking about us as a church
to thinking about us as individuals
who make up the broader church.
And so as we seek to answer those two questions today,
who am I and what am I here for?
Let me pray.
Heavenly Father,
as we come to your word,
give us insight,
not only into who you are and into your word,
but who you have made us to be.
And give me your words to speak today, Lord.
Amen.
Three points for us this morning.
Made,
ruined,
and remade.
Let me encourage you to be using the St. Paul's app
to be following along as well.
First of all,
we're starting in Psalm 8
to see how we are made.
And as John read for us,
this is a wonderful meditation
from King David
about who he is
and about who our God is.
So have a look with me,
Psalm 8.
That'll come up on the screen as well,
starting in verse 1.
And it starts off with David praising God.
Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth.
You have set your glory in the heavens.
And I wonder where David is
as he's saying this.
Is he outside
looking up at the sky,
staring at the vast sky?
Is he in the middle of nature?
I think even those who don't believe in God,
sometimes when we're confronted
by just the vastness of creation,
makes us stop and think,
wow,
there must be something bigger.
There must be something beyond me.
And David in this scene
is just reflecting on God's awesomeness
and his glory.
God is so vast
and so beyond us
that he even uses the unlikely
for his own glory.
Verse 2.
Through the praise of infants
and children,
you have established
a stronghold against your enemies
to silence the foe and the avenger.
You don't see too many countries
assembling armies
out of infants and children.
But God can silence the strong
with the very weak
because God is just that powerful.
And David continues
considering God in verse 3.
When I consider your heavens
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars
which you have set in place,
it makes him consider who he is.
But this is actually
quite amazing as well.
It tells us
something about God.
David could have said that
God made the world
with his mighty arm,
with an outstretched arm,
with a powerful arm.
But David said that
God made the world
with his fingers.
God is intimately involved
with his creation.
It's almost like
a picture of God.
I've painted a lot
of little figurines.
It's this picture of God
intricately making us
with his fingers.
That the God
who is bigger than galaxies
beyond time and space
works with delicate intricacy,
like an artist,
a model builder.
Steve, in the last couple of weeks,
has looked at Genesis 1 and 2.
And that's what David
is doing here.
He's recalling creation.
He's looking at the vastness
of creation,
the goodness of God,
and it brings him to think
about himself
in verse 4.
What is mankind
that you are mindful of them?
Human beings
that you would care for them.
God, what am I?
Because in the vastness
of all these things
you've created,
I am an insignificant
little dot.
What am I
that you would think of me?
That God,
your mind would be on me.
Why would I be in your heart?
Why would you care for me?
David answers this
in verse 5.
You have made them
a little lower
than the angels,
and you've crowned them
with glory and honor.
This answers the question
of who are we?
We are people
intimately made.
We are people
who are known by God,
who God chooses
to know and love.
God chooses
to honor us.
He crowns us
with glory and honor.
We are a people
that God has made
and he makes much of.
God made a people
in his image.
We're recalling
Genesis 1 and 2
where God made us
in his image.
This is primary.
This is really central.
This is core
to us as people,
to us as Christians.
We are people
made in God's image.
So,
when someone asks,
oh,
hi,
I'm James.
Who are you?
You know,
we should be saying,
before we say,
I'm employed in this field
or this is some things
about me,
the answer really should be,
oh,
I'm a child of God.
Before I knew
what to do in my life,
God crowned me
with his glory
and his honor.
He made me his child.
That might make things
a little bit awkward
in social settings,
but it is true.
God
has made us
in his image
like him
before we knew
anything about ourselves.
I found it really difficult
in the last week
to see what's been happening
in the Ukraine.
I'm not sure
if you've been following
what's been happening,
but one thing
that has been encouraging
is seeing
the Christians
continue
to praise God
in that season.
There's a video of them,
I think they were
in a train station,
there's this group
of Christians
just praising God.
And one of the things
that they have said
is even
with oppression coming,
we will not hide
who we are
if we need to go
underground as the church.
We will do that,
we've done that before,
and we will do that again
if they need.
And they're able
to say that
because they know
what is core
to who they are
as people.
It is their Christian
identity.
And even with
opposition coming,
that's not going
to make them hide
or run away
from who they are
as people,
they're going
to go,
we will continue
as Christians
even in the face
of opposition.
David finishes
with the same words
as he started
in verse 9.
Lord,
our Lord,
how majestic
is your name
in all the earth.
You have set
your glory
in the heavens.
So in the midst
of David meditating
on who he is,
made in the image
of God,
it's all framed
in praising God.
Paul says
in 1 Corinthians 10,
whether you eat
or drink
or whatever you do,
do it all
for the glory
of God.
And this is the theme
of our series.
It's all of life.
That we are to be
Christians all of life.
That we are to bring
praise and glory
to God
all of life.
Not just for an hour
or two on a Sunday.
Not just for a couple
of minutes
when we're reading
the Bible.
But we are to be
following God
all of life
because we are made
in his image.
We are to be doing
what Paul said
in 1 Corinthians
said,
to be bringing him
glory.
This is the
biblical picture
of who we are
and what we are
to do.
We are to be,
we are made
in God's image
and we are to be
bringing him glory.
Our purpose
is to magnify him.
To bring him glory.
to show how awesome
he really is.
To his praise
and to enjoy
relationship with him.
On the one hand,
it makes a lot of sense.
The Bible presents
a pretty clear picture.
We are made
in God's image
and we are made
to glory,
to bring him glory
and to enjoy him.
But on the other hand,
it's really hard.
We still have this
existential angst
that comes from
questioning,
well,
what am I to do?
Who am I to be?
And this comes
because
our image
has been marred.
It's been damaged.
It's been ruined.
And that's our
second point today.
The problem comes
from the fall
where the image
of God was damaged.
It was messed up.
Our purpose in life
got confused.
Instead of glorifying God,
we pursue ourselves
and the other
idols of life
that we make.
The article
talking about
identity from last week
in the City Morning Herald,
it concluded
with some fairly
depressing words.
It said,
everything matters
and nothing matters.
It's messy
and hard to define,
but it's like standing
on top of a mountain
and feeling huge
and small
all at once.
This is a wonderful
paradox to hold
within our every experience.
What a beautiful
perspective to carry
through the world.
What you do matters,
but not as much
as who you are.
They both matter,
but also
not at all.
It's so similar
to David's experience
in Psalm 8.
He's standing
and beholding
the awesomeness
of God,
but this author
suggests
that,
you know,
experiencing
how large
and how small
the reality is
that,
you know what,
it's actually
all meaningless.
It's all pointless.
You can give yourself
meaning if you like,
but actually
there is no meaning
to life.
And if we follow
this directionless
questioning,
we just end up
purposeless,
hopeless.
Nothing matters,
but you can pretend
it like it does
if you like.
until your deathbed
and you'll think,
what's it all been for?
But when we take
God out of the picture,
that's what we're
left with.
Self-invented purpose
that doesn't satisfy.
We can create
an identity
that can be
lost or broken
with a pandemic
coming through
and a job lost.
Paul says in Romans 1,
for although they knew
God,
they neither glorified
Him as God
nor gave thanks to Him.
But their thinking
became futile
and foolish,
and their foolish
hearts were darkened.
Although they claimed
to be wise,
they became fools
and exchanged
the glory of the
immortal God
for images
made to look like
a mortal human being
and birds and animals
and reptiles.
We have been made
in the image of God
to bring Him glory,
but the image of God
has been marred
by our sin,
it's been damaged,
and so we chase
other things.
We choose to give
them glory instead.
And when we don't know
who we are in God,
we lose our purpose.
And instead,
it gets redefined for us.
Instead,
we get a different identity
and we end up
with a different purpose.
And instead of it being
shaped by God,
it's shaped by
the culture
around us.
What my purpose is
gets shaped by
my culture around me.
It gets shaped
by aspects of me.
It gets shaped by
what I do for work,
my sexuality,
the things I do,
my role within my family.
It's going to be influenced
differently
in different cultures.
But every culture,
every culture
is not based
on God.
And so every culture
is going to make
a different idol.
It's going to make
our identity,
which might be
something good,
like work,
it's going to take
something good
and make it
the ultimate thing
and an idol.
And it's going to make
it the most important
thing in our life.
The image of God
is marred
and so our purpose
gets confused.
I think in the West,
it looks like
the personal pursuit
of happiness,
the pursuit
of personal happiness.
It's the big dream.
It's the goal.
It's the vision
of personal success.
I'm going to have
a vision board.
Well, there was a book
that came out
a number of years ago
called The Secret.
Not sure if you've heard
of The Secret.
It was on Oprah
at the time.
It was all about
envisioning
what your success
looked like.
And so you'd think
about it.
And because you're
thinking about it,
the universe was going
to give it to you.
And this was the thinking.
In the West,
it really is about
personal success.
I've seen this
impact my own heart.
I've seen this impact
other people
in my line of work
as pastors.
In church ministry,
we're in a culture
which is about
growth and success
generally.
You know,
you look at companies,
they must always
have year-on-year growth.
There can be no
staying the same.
We must always
grow and succeed.
And it can be
the same in the church
because growth
is,
and bigger numbers
is a sign of success.
And so,
I talk to other ministers
and the same comment,
the same question
comes up.
Oh,
how big is your church?
How is it growing?
And I see the challenge
in my own heart
to be influenced
by what our culture
defines success as.
But that's not biblical.
It's a culturally
driven purpose.
From an Eastern perspective,
identity and purpose
might not look like
individual success,
but it might look like
having success
to care for a family
or having success
academically
on behalf of other people
so that others
in the family
can boast
about how their family
is doing.
It doesn't matter
the ethnic background
that we come from,
they are all
adrift from God
and we are all
going to find
an identity
and purpose
away from God.
It's going to make
us look successful
and desire to have
those around us
look successful too.
A culture that says
to be successful
you must earn
a lot of money,
you must be busy,
it's no wonder
that our identity
becomes so closely
tied to our jobs,
to the things we do.
It shapes our days
and so very often
it gives us purpose.
But it's also true
that we want to do
valuable things.
I know over the last
couple of weeks
it's been wonderful
to hear from people
like Soren
who's a solicitor
about how
he does his
nine to five
to help people,
to care for other people
and this is good.
The challenge is
when it becomes
ultimate,
when it becomes
no, no, no,
this is who I am,
I am the teacher
and this is all
about my life.
But that's not
who we are.
If something
core to our identity
can be so easily
taken away
by a pandemic
or by a job loss,
then it isn't
really core
to who we are.
First,
we are Christians
and then that
shapes our purpose.
Otherwise,
we'll have a
short-term purpose
and we can be
left feeling
like life
is meaningless.
I like to think
about this
as
a fast-food
identity
version
of identity
and purpose.
We can think
that
having
all purpose
in my job
will satisfy
but it can
ultimately
leave us
feeling empty.
I have a
cheeseburger here.
I don't know
if anybody
likes cheeseburgers.
Does anybody
like eating
cheeseburgers?
This is a
Macca's cheeseburger
and it's being
kept warm
in my pocket
for about
an hour and a half.
I'll tell you
what,
even warm,
it's still
delicious.
Steve's looking
at me right
now,
he's thinking
that's going
to spike
your sugars.
That combination
of carbs
and sugars
and fat
and protein,
it tastes
good.
Does anybody
want some?
No?
Okay.
It tastes
good
but soon,
let me just
finish my
mouthful.
Excuse me,
my mouth is
dry.
Should have
gotten a
Coke.
Soon my
system is
going to
go into
overdrive
from this
combination of
fats and
sugars.
And I'm
going to
crash soon.
You'll see me
on the floor
in the last
song.
I'm not sure
how you feel
after you
eat fast
food,
but often
can feel
just a little
bit sick.
It can
often leave
me feeling
just a little
bit unsatisfied,
like I need
a real meal.
food.
It leaves
me craving
a meal
with real
food and
family and
friends.
That satisfies
not just the
taste buds,
not only does
it not make me
feel sick,
but it feeds
my soul.
Imagine if I
only ever
ate Maccas.
You'd be
concerned for
me, yes?
My life would
not go very
well for very
long.
I might enjoy
it to a
certain extent.
I think
that is a
temptation on
how we
approach the
question of
who I am
and what my
purpose is.
We seek
fulfillment and
purpose in
things that are
only temporary
and ultimately
things that
don't actually
satisfy.
But we don't
even realize
that they
won't satisfy.
Instead of
understanding how
God has
intricately and
lovingly made
us in his
image, we
take something
off the
shelf of
identity and
purpose and
think, I'll
have that.
I'll devote
myself to
that.
I'll devote
myself to
this career.
I'll devote
myself to
fixing the
world in
this way.
I study
law.
I'm a
solicitor.
I'm going
to devote
everything to
that.
I'm a
teacher.
I'm going
to fix a
generation of
kids.
And these
are good
things.
But when
they are made
the ultimate
things, it
shapes what
we do
each day.
It shapes
how we
want to
get glory
for
ourselves.
It shapes
our purpose
in life.
But like a
cheeseburger,
they are not
ultimate things.
They will just
leave us
feeling unsatisfied.
We can end up
with that question
before.
Is that it?
Is that all
my life?
What happens
when my job
ends?
What happens
when I hit
retirement?
I'll have an
existential crisis.
God offers
us something
far deeper,
far more
satisfying.
One that only
comes from
him.
Now, don't
hear me say
we shouldn't
pursue work,
we shouldn't
pursue significant
things.
Work is a
good gift
given from
God.
But one
way to
figure out
whether a
good gift
from God
has become
an idol
is to
question what
would happen
if we
didn't have
it.
Tim Keller
asked a
question to
help us
identify
our idol,
which is
what do
we go to
bed thinking
about?
What is our
goal?
What is our
dream?
Before we
drift off to
sleep,
what are we
thinking,
I really
want that?
What would
happen if
we couldn't
get it?
Now, I know
there's a
number of
teachers in
the room,
so let me
use a
teacher example.
Let's say
you're a
teacher and
your dream
is to be
the principal.
I hear
that's a
good thing.
And that's
your goal and
you think,
I can lead
a school
really well,
I can change
culture,
I can shape
a generation,
and you
apply for a
job and
it's your
dream job and
you think you
would be the
best at it,
and then you
get knocked
back.
You don't
get it.
And there's
sadness and
pain, but
is there
anger or
righteous
indignation?
I deserve
that.
That should
have been
my job.
If we
have those
kinds of
responses,
it indicates
that that
might actually
be an
idol,
that might
actually be
the thing
we are
attaching our
purpose and
our identity
to,
because if we
don't get
it, there
is pain.
Are you
satisfied and
able to
glorify God
where you
are?
If you were
to stay in
the same
house, in
the same
job, with
the same
amount of
money, with
the same
situation in
your life, if
you didn't
get that
goal that
you have.
So what
do we do?
Third point
today is
that we
are remade.
If our
image of
God has
been marred
by our
sin, and
we are
off pursuing
new things
that don't
ultimately
satisfy it,
what now?
In
Colossians
chapter 1,
it describes
Jesus as
the image
of the
invisible
God,
firstborn
over all
creation,
and in
him we
are remade.
Our
likeness is
given back
to, the
image of
God is
remade for
us.
He has
come to
restore us
to God's
image.
Jesus
perfectly
reflects
God.
The rest
of Psalm
8 that we
were looking
at before
is a
picture of
what happens
after Jesus
dies and
is raised
back to
life.
David is
talking about
himself, but
he's actually
talking about
Jesus.
From verse
4 of Psalm
8,
hopefully
it'll be
on the
screen.
What is
mankind
that you
are mindful
of them?
Human
beings or
the son
of man
that you
care for
them?
You have
made them
a little
lower than
the angels
and crowned
them with
glory and
honor.
You made
them rulers
over the
works of
your hands.
You put
everything
under their
feet.
Jesus
is the
perfect
man.
He is
the perfect
image
bearer of
God.
He is
the one
who restores
us to
God's
image.
And as
Psalm 8
says,
he was
crowned
with glory.
Everything
has been
placed under
his feet.
And now,
believing in
Jesus,
by the power
of God's
Holy Spirit,
we are being
remade in
the image
of God.
Romans 8
says,
for those
God
foreknew,
he also
predestined
to be
conformed
to the
image of
his Son.
Every day,
God is
making us
to be
who we
were made
to be.
In the
power of
the Holy
Spirit,
he is
conforming
us back
to the
image of
who we
are.
He has
restored
our identity
as his
children,
so we can
be called
Christian,
and now
he's
restoring us
to his
purpose,
to glorify
him.
But it's
hard.
It's a
challenge.
It's hard
to take
off that
identity,
the goal,
that dream
that our
culture can
give us,
and the
dream to
have success,
and realign
it with
God's purpose
of giving
him the
glory,
because he
is the
one who
has all
success.
He is
the one
who is
in control
of all
things.
So who
are we,
brothers and
sisters?
God has
bought our
identity,
which was
marred at
the fall
with the
blood of
his son,
so that
we might
be his
people.
So that
whatever role
we do,
whatever we
do in our
nine to
five,
we are his
children first,
made in his
image to
glorify him.
How then,
how can we
live our life
for the glory
of God?
How can we
magnify God
in all we do?
How do we
pursue his
glory,
regardless of
what we are
doing in
life?
After that
cheeseburger,
I need a bit
of a drink,
so I'm
going to
help illustrate
this with
an illustration
from John
Piper about
orange juice,
but I don't
have orange
juice,
I have
some black
currant
juice,
which we'll
do.
Firstly,
this black
currant
juice is
just an
illustration
of what
we can
do in
all of
life.
John
Piper
encourages
us to
glorify
God in
every moment,
as 1
Corinthians
calls us
to do,
and we
can do
that simply
with a
moment like
drinking
juice.
First,
I don't
deserve this
juice.
The reality
is that
because of
my own
sin,
I deserve
punishment,
I deserve
hell right
now.
And so
even holding
this plastic
cup, I
can give
thanks to
God that
he has
forgiven
my sin.
And the
pleasure of
drinking juice
is bought
for me by
Jesus' death
on the
cross, so
that I can
enjoy every
minute of
my day and
the minute
when I drink
some juice.
I don't
deserve it.
Drinking
this juice
actually reveals
something about
the goodness
of God.
God is a
creative God
who enjoys
pleasurable
things.
And God
made us to
be able to
enjoy his
world.
This tastes
good because
God has
made us in
a way to
be able to
enjoy things
that taste
good.
And that's
wonderful that
our God has
given that to
us.
Thirdly,
the fact that
I can even
stand up here
and hold this
cup means
that God has
given me
health.
He's blessed
me with health
to work,
health to
earn money
so I can
afford juice.
Even when
I have fully
drunk this
cup and
all of the
value of the
vitamin C has
gone through
my body and
I've gotten
everything out
of it,
even after
it's finished,
God is still
good to me
and he is
still helping
me and he is
still the
great healer.
And lastly,
I don't pursue
the black
currant juice.
I don't
make it the
purpose of
my life,
I don't
worship it,
I don't
become the
black currant
juice guy
who's always
talking to
you about
it and
encouraging
you,
you really
should buy
more black
currant
juice,
it is really
the best
of the
juices.
I also
don't believe
that,
but I'm
thankful for
it but I
still pursue
the one who
has given
me the gift.
Now if I
can do that
with a cup
of black
currant
juice,
how much
can we do
that with
every moment
of our day?
The moment
we wake up
early,
the moment
I got
woken up
early this
morning because
of my
kids,
I can
thank God
that I
have my
kids,
that I'm
well enough
to play
with them,
I can
thank God
that I
can go
to work,
I can
thank God
for coffee
and I
can thank
God
multiple
times
throughout
the day
for coffee
because I
drink
multiple
coffees.
Brothers
and sisters,
we have a
good God
who restores
us to
his image
and to
his purposes
and that
purpose of
glorifying
him and
enjoying
him.
He
offers us
an identity
and a
purpose that
is far
better than
the unsatisfying
ones that
we have
been,
that we've
chosen.
Let me
encourage you,
spend a moment
to think what
is the purpose
that you were
thinking about as
you drift off to
sleep?
Because God
offers us
something far
better,
made in his
image,
with the purpose
of glorifying
him.
let me
pray.
Heavenly
Father,
I thank you
so much
that we
were made
in your
image,
that even
though we
sin against
you,
you have
remade us
through the
death and
resurrection of
your Son,
and you are
making us
like you
each day.
Father,
help us
to pursue
you,
to desire
to see you
glorified,
and not
our own
glory.
Help us
not to
seek our
success,
but to
see your
name made
known by
the people
that we
know,
all for
your glory.
We pray
this in your
Son's name.
Amen.