We’re wrapping up this Living with Purpose series today! Over the last three weeks, I’ve tried to show you how incredible living with purpose can be, but also some things that need to happen to live with purpose effectively. Sowing and reaping, decision making, relationship choosing, etc.

In the Bible we see so many powerful characters who lived with purpose.
If you want a Bible character who epitomizes living with purpose other than Jesus himself, I think you can look no further than Paul the apostle. If you look at the events of his life, you see a wildly intelligent person who clearly had a zealous drive to live for God. While we could take a journey through all of the events of Paul’s life, there’s at least one section of scripture that verifies his level of commitment to obeying Jesus:

1 Corinthians 11:24-28
24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. 27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28 Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.

Raise your hand if you want to sign up to be a missionary! Might I offer this as evidence that as a Christian, you are not exempt from calamity.

Imagine that list. And it wasn’t that he was trying to wreck the system or tear down it down. He wasn’t trying to be a radical and overthrow life as everyone knew it. He was simply sharing the Gospel, challenging the religious leaders to truly understand God’s plan, to embrace the truth about Jesus, to expand the Kingdom. And yes he was simply trying to live as best he could with purpose. And what was that purpose?

Colossians 1:24-29
24 I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church. 25 God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you. 26 This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God’s people. 27 For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory. 28 So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ. (to present everyone mature in Christ) 29 That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.

In week 1 of this series I challenged you to find the why and living with purpose will come easily. If you want to know why Paul was content to take lashes on his back and to go without, to suffer persecution, to live in constant danger, it is because God put in Paul a drive to share the Gospel.

A look at Paul’s story and you will see a life lived with purpose.
Today I want to share three things we can learn from Paul about living with purpose.

1. Be driven by the right goals.
Question: How driven are you?
"Driven" means to be strongly motivated and determined to achieve a goal.
That goal, that “why,” is what keeps you moving when you want to quit.

Why are you driven to go to work? Because at the end of the week you get a paycheck and you need that paycheck to pay for your mortgage and buy food and basic necessities.

Why are you driven to come to church on Sunday? There are 1 million things you could do on a Sunday morning, but you choose to be here. Why? It's because there's something inside of you that wants to know God more, you want to go deeper with him, you want to grow. And maybe a little peer pressure lol

“Without goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination.”

This is often why things like New Year's resolutions, plans to go to the gym, etc. fail. It isn't because you don't have the "want to," it's because your goal and the plan to achieve it, are not outlined.

The same thing happens in our relationship with Jesus. Let's forget some big overarching, calling or purpose for your life. Let's just talk for a second about our one on one relationship with Jesus Christ. We say we want to pray, but what is our plan? What goal are we trying to achieve? We say we want to read our Bible all the way through in a year, but what is our plan?
We say we want to build a relationships, meaningful relationships, but there's no plan attached to it.

This is why DGroups (how we do discipleship) are structured like they are.
Our DGroups are designed to get you in a pattern, in a habit, following a plan with others, so that you can achieve the goal of being discipled.

We can talk about how driven you are, but to do that we have to talk about what your goal is, and what plan you have to achieve it. Otherwise, it's like getting in a boat to go fishing, but you have no pole, no tacklebox, no motor, and you have absolutely no clue where you're going. At that point it's just a waste of time.

But furthermore, what's amazing is that you can be driven, you can have a plan, and you can have a goal, but all of those things could be sending you the wrong direction! We can so easily devise a plan, chart a path, and launch headlong into sin, but there's such a struggle when it comes to devising a plan, charting a path, and launching headlong into righteousness.

And do you know who we could look to as an example of this? Paul

Philippians 3:1-6
1 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. 2 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. 3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

Here we have a man with a goal to live as close to the letter of the law as he could possibly live. He was devoted to doing everything the Torah and Jewish tradition said. He even says it in this verse, he was zealous, even persecuting the church. IN FACT…In Acts 7, Stephen gives a stirring speech validating Jesus from creation to resurrection only to become the first Christian martyr..

Acts 7:51-60
51 “You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you! 52 Name one prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One—the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered. 53 You deliberately disobeyed God’s law, even though you received it from the hands of angels.”

54 The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation, and they shook their fists at him in rage. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 56 And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!”

57 Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him 58 and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul.

59 As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 He fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, he died.

Paul consented to this murder which launched the first great wave of persecution of the Christians. Paul had a goal and it drove him, but while he made sure to do everything right by the letter of the law, like most religious leaders, he couldn’t, he wouldn’t recognize Jesus.

A guy stopped by the church this week. He told me he was a Jewish man who had recently embraced Jesus. I asked him why. He said, “How can you read Isaiah and miss Jesus?”

The Jews were trying to make them right. God was trying to make them holy.

Paul discovered this. Right after confessing his failures in chasing the wrong goal, he explains in

Philippians 3:7-11
7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

5 Sec Gut Check
Are you being driven by the right goals?
You just trying to be happy rather than being filled with joy? You just trying to slide into Heaven rather than having Heaven now on Earth? You just trying to stay close enough to Jesus to make it while still having a foot in the world? You just trying to get close enough to people so they can know your name but far enough away that they can’t know your heart?

How do you know if you are chasing the wrong goals? One tell tale sign is that you are simply living, but not living with purpose.

What are your goals, and are those goals that are driving you godly? Are they God’s best for you, or are you settling? (Maybe God has a plan but you are terrified to fail) Are they leading you down paths of purpose or convenience? (Maybe your goal is lots of money to have security rather than build the Kingdom with it, blessed to be a blessing) Do those goals have you focused on godly impact and you growing with Jesus? If not, why are they your goals?

A good prayer: God, are my goals what you want for me? Be careful. Seeking his will first is how you live with purpose.

2. Turn around and move forward
In that same breath in Philippians 3, Paul continues:

Philippians 3:12-14
12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Paul had good reasons to fall back, to NOT move forward. Imagine dedicating your entire life to understanding the Old Testament only to learn that you missed literally the most important thing the Old Testament was trying to tell you. Imagine you’d spent your entire life striving to be at the top of the religious hierarchy, studying under one of the most influential rabbis, only to learn that everything your sect was doing was anathema to God. Imagine being so zealous for your erroneous religious tradition, that you didn’t just speak against Christians, but you hunted them down like dogs to literally wipe them off the face of the earth. I’ve done some pretty dumb stuff in my day, but I never did those things.

Acts 22:3-5
3 I am a Jew. I was born in the city of Tarsus in the country of Cilicia. When I was a young man, I lived here in Jerusalem. I went to Gamaliel’s school and learned all about the Law of our early fathers. I worked hard for God as you all do today. 4 I worked hard and killed men and women who believed as I believe today. I put them in chains and sent them to prison. 5 The head religious leader and the leaders of the people can tell you this is true.

Acts 8 says he ravaged the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

I think Paul was broken over his past.
He knew he wasn’t perfect. He knew he was a failure. He even mentions in Philippians 1 that he is torn because he wants to stay and encourage the church but he desperately wants to die so he can be with Jesus. He talked before about the thorn in his flesh, his physical ailment, not to mention a body worn and beaten by the suffering he endured through persecution.

Yet in Philippians 3 he confesses that while he is not perfect, that while he knows he hasn't "made it" yet, there is one thing he does know: He forgets what lies behind him, he strains forward to what lies ahead of him.

Translation:
He did not let his past keep him from living with purpose today.

He pressed on, leaning toward the goal, the prize. He had a race to run, and no matter how bad it was on the trail behind him, what mattered was the trail before him. He fully acknowledged who he was, but he didn't let his past dictate his identity.

And I think his own suffering did something to him. I don’t think that Paul was thinking "this is what I deserve.” He clearly expresses joy in joining in Christ’s suffering with his own mouth. HOW?!?! How in the world could you have joy in the middle of suffering, even to the extent of what he had to endure? Jesus took 39 lashes. Paul took 39 lashes FIVE times.

I think he felt in his physical body what it meant to be all in with Jesus.

As those blows were landing on his back, what was going on in Paul's mind? When Jesus endured what he was enduring, what was on his mind?

We see the answer to these questions.
For Jesus Hebrews 12:1-2a
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross

And though we’ve already read it, for Paul Colossians 1:28
To present you mature in Christ.

I can’t help but think they were both thinking of us.

Paul didn’t let his past hold him back. He lived with purpose in spite of his past. He intentionally turned around to face forward, forgetting what was behind him, straining forward to what lies ahead.

If you are here today and are struggling with going all in with Jesus, living with purpose and intentionality, take a lesson from Paul: Turn around and move forward.

I want to share one more lesson from Paul on how to live with purpose.

3. Have an encounter with Jesus
So many people have what they think are facts about Jesus. I hear Joe Rogan often talk about the historical Jesus and the evidence of his crucifixion and resurrection. Data will get you right to the line between fact and faith.

Some of us have so much “knowledge” and “history” with the Gospel that we’ve become like a modern day Pharisee, doing all the things, but missing Jesus with our hearts. Three times in Scripture, Old and New Testament, we see:

Matthew 15:8-9
8 This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.

You can live with zeal but that doesn’t mean you are living with purpose. Paul didn’t understand that until an event that changed everything.

Acts 9:1-19
9 Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. 4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” 5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” 6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

7 And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one. 8 Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

10 Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 So the Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. 12 And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.” 13 Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”
Side bar: Is your calling worth your suffering?

17 And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized. 19 So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus.

What will an encounter with Jesus do for you right now?
In the midst of all the stress and worry, struggling and working, hoping and praying, if he just appeared to you right now in this room, how would that change you?

Jesus says to Saul (soon to be Paul), “Why are you persecuting me?” Paul says, “Who are you?” Amazing. Jesus is hovering over him in a ball of light and Bible scholar Saul still has no clue who Jesus is. Jesus says, “I’m Jesus who you are persecuting. Is it hard for you to kick against the goads?” This was a phrase common in the 1st century to describe an exercise in vanity, futile, pointless, a ruinous resistance.

The difference between Saul the persecutor and Paul the apostle is 39 words from Jesus. It was the difference between just living with zeal and living with purpose.

What about you? What word do you need to hear form Jesus today? What encounter needs to happen with Jesus to take you from where you are today to you living with purpose tomorrow?

Let me go ahead and wrap up this entire series with a single phrase that is the core of everything we’ve talked about over the last several weeks. Living with purpose is going to require you to be intentional about what you’re sewing, to make some decisions, to choose relationships that are gonna actually help you look up everything God created you to be. But at the core of all of this is what we are learning from Paul, this simple phrase to wrap this series:

Until you are fully living for Jesus, you will never be able to fully live with purpose.

All in. Nothing held back. No “yes Jesus but first…” Seeking the Kingdom first. Choosing to plant intentional seeds to reap godly harvests in the soils around you. Making decisions that get you closer to the goal of maturity in Christ and positive impact around you. Choosing relationships that reciprocate the building up of your faith and godly actions. Being wholly committed to Jesus and his will for your life.

To live for Jesus carries with it some responsibilities, like engaging in prayer, worship, reading the Bible, the spiritual disciplines that are so seldom talked about in church.

But at the core, living for Jesus is simply living your life where nothing compares to him. There’s nothing you want more than what he wants. There’s nothing that can satisfy like he can. There’s no living without Jesus.

Living with purpose has to start with the reason for living in the first place: Jesus.

Where do you stand with Jesus?
I asked a few moments ago what word did you need to hear from Jesus.
Let me now ask: what word does he need to hear from you?

Maybe that word is yes to his invitation.
Maybe forgive me of my failures.
Maybe thanks for your unending faithfulness.

Encounter him today.

Let’s pray.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message?

How does he want you to respond?