Who You Are Meant To Be
What Does It Mean To Be Human?
I Peter 1:13-21 (Message Bible)

Why?
Looking at the BIG questions of life
I Corinthians 4:1 “Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.”

• First, “Why We Need Peace”
  • We live in a world of darkness and chaos.
  • John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
• Second, “Why Am I Here?”
  • Our Questions & God’s Motive
  • The BIG picture – Life is a story – {His-story}
  • Three Approaches:
  • Mystical – Philosophical – Self-help
  • Colossians 1:16 (Message) “For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible . . . Everything got started in Him and finds its purpose in Him.”

A Meaningful Life

• I Peter 1:18 KJV
  “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;”
• I Peter 1:18 NKJ
  “knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers”
• I Peter 1:18 NASB
  “knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things, like silver or gold, from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers”
• I Peter 1:18 ISV
  “For you know that it was not with perishable things like silver or gold that you were ransomed from the worthless way of life handed down to you by your ancestors”
• I Peter 1:18 Message
  “It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty headed life you grew up in.”

You are redeemed from the rat race!

• “I don't mind the rat race, but I could do with a little more cheese.”
• "Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans."
• "No man ever said on his deathbed I wish I had spent more time at the office."
• "If you win the rat race, you're still a rat.“

Valuable to God
Not created for a vain, aimless, futile, worthless, dead end empty-headed life.

• Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: you are of more value than many sparrows. Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God. - Luke 12:6-8
• For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? - Mark 8:36-37

All I could never be, All men ignored in me — This, I was worth to God.
- Robert Browning (1812–1889)

• Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. - I John 3:1-3

A man’s true value consists in his likeness to God. What gives value to his thoughts, his feelings, and his actions is the extent to which they are inspired by God, the extent to which they express the thought, the will, and the acts of God.
-Paul Tournier (1898–1986)

• For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. - Romans 8:18-19

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. - II Corinthians 5:17

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. - II Corinthians 5:21

In Christ we have...
A love that can never be fathomed,
A life that can never die,
A righteousness that can never be tarnished,
A peace that can never be understood,
A rest that can never be disturbed,
A joy that can never be diminished,
A hope that can never be disappointed,
A glory that can never be clouded,
A light that can never be darkened,
A purity that can never be defiled,
A beauty that can never be marred,
A wisdom that can never be baffled,
Resources that can never be exhausted.
Jesus is our all in all!

Why Are We Here? - Why? #2
Our Questions ~ God’s Motives
John 1:1-18

Life is a story – His story

• Once upon a time --- In a galaxy far, far away
• We do not have to create meaning
  • Life existed before we were born
  • The story was already underway
  • “In the beginning . . .” before the dawn of time.
• Something immortal, eternal – this story we’ve found ourselves in has a golden past.
  • A mystery – I Corinthians 4:1
• Life doesn’t come to us as a math problem.
  • It comes to us the way a story does, scene by scene.
  • Life unfolds like a drama.
    • Each day has a beginning and an end.
    • Sometimes like a tragedy, sometimes like a comedy.

What sort of tale have we fallen into?
- Sam to Frodo in Lord of the Rings

Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. - John 17:24

The Right Focus

• We have been moved into God’s purpose through the Holy Spirit.
• Why do you want to know the meaning of life?
  • Often people ask this question when they really want the answer to some other question.
  • Jeremiah 20

Three questions:
- Existence
- Significance
- Intention
Revealing God's Motives!

Colossians 1:13-17
Vs 16 “For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible ... Everything got started in Him and finds its purpose in Him.” (Message)

Existence ~ Why am I alive?

• Proverbs 16:4 – God has made everything for His own purpose.
• Ephesians 1:4 – Before the foundation of the world
• To be loved by God!

Significance ~ Does my life matter?

• Isaiah 44:2a “Thus says the LORD who made you And formed you from the womb, who will help you”
• Psalm 139:16 “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.”
• Psalm 33:11 “The counsel of the LORD stands forever, The plans of His heart to all generations.”
• Isaiah 49:4 “My work seems so useless”
• I was made to live forever!

Intention ~ What is my purpose?

• I find my purpose in God.

It is HIS story ~ We find meaning in Him

• God has revealed Himself and His motives in His Word
  • The Question of Existence: Why am I alive?
    • Answer: GOD: I was created to be loved by God
  • The Question of Significance: Does my life matter?
    • Answer: GOD – “I Was Made To Last Forever.
  • The Question of Intention: What is my Purpose?
    • Answer: GOD – “I find my purpose in God.
• Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
• Colossians 1:16 “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him”

Why We Need Peace - Why? #1
John 14:23-27

Comfort, yes, comfort My people!” Says your God.
- Isaiah 40:1

Peace and our post-modern culture

• The absence of war or other hostilities.
• An agreement or a treaty to end hostilities.
• Freedom from quarrels and disagreement; harmonious relations.
• Public security and order
• Inner contentment; serenity: peace of mind.

Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore!

• For many of us there is a confused reaction to the cultural postmodern shift.
• It can be either a shrug as if to suggest "who cares?" or a nervous twitch that reveals "this whole thing is beyond me."
• Post-modernity, after all, is one of those topics that's bandied about yet can seem grasped only by intellectuals trying to define how the concept shapes our society or affects our 21st century mindset.
• Yet as rock icon Bob Dylan sang, "The times they are a- changin'."
• Theologian Diogenes Allen affirms this: "The principles forged during the Enlightenment (1600-1780), which formed the foundations of the modem mentality, are crumbling."

We feel that even when all possible scientific questions have been answered, the problems of life remain completely untouched.
- Twentieth-century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. - John 14:27

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear. - I Peter 3:15

Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. - I Corinthians 4:1

What can we count on? (St. Augustine)

• God’s mercy for our past mistakes
• God’s love for our present needs
• God’s sovereignty for our future

One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple.
- Psalm 27:4