Renewed Purpose

“For you have been called for this purpose

 since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example

for you to follow in His steps.”

 

For most of us, if we’re honest, we’ll discover that our lives have very little to do with the purposes of God . . . with following in His steps . . . with denying ourselves and following Him.  We have bought into what is called “The American Dream.”  In his book Radical: taking back your faith from the American dream, David Platt describes it this way. 
As the “American Dream” goes . . . we can accomplish anything we set our minds to accomplish and thus live out our dreams for a successful life.  James Adams is credited with coining the phrase in 1931.  He defines it as “a dream . . . in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain the fullest stature of which they are innately capable and be recognized by others for what they are.”

So is there anything wrong with this picture?  Certainly hard work and high aspirations are not bad, and the freedom to pursue our goals is something we should celebrate.  Scripture explicitly commends all these things.  But . . . underlying this American Dream is a dangerous assumption and a deadly goal.

The dangerous assumption we unknowingly accept in the American dream is that our greatest asset is our own ability.  The American dream prizes what people can accomplish when they believe in themselves and trust in themselves.  But the Gospel has different priorities.  The gospel beckons us to die to ourselves and to believe in God and to trust in His power.  In the Gospel, God confronts us with our utter inability to accomplish anything of value apart from Him.  This is what Jesus was talking about in John 15:5 . . . “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”  What a stark contrast to the “believe it and achieve it” mantra of our secular culture!

It’s even more important for us to recognize the deadly goal we will achieve when we pursue the American dream.  The deadly goal is this . . . as long as we achieve our desires in our own power; we will always attribute it to our own glory.  To use James Adam’s words, we will be “recognized by others for what [we] are.”  This is, after all, the goal of the American dream:  to make much of ourselves . . . and it is in direct opposition to what Biblical Christianity is all about.

God actually delights in exalting our inability.  He intentionally puts His people in situations where they come face to face with their need for Him.  In the process He powerfully demonstrates His ability.  Remember what God told Paul in II Corinthians 12:9?  Paul says that he was given a “thorn in the flesh” in order to keep him from exalting himself!  After imploring God to remove it . . . God told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”  We have got to shift our understanding and gain a renewed sense of purpose as we fulfill God’s call for our lives.  Remember I Peter 2:21 . . .  “For you have been called for this purpose . . . to follow in His steps.”  To live as Jesus called us to live.

            Isn’t it amazing how we sometimes put Jesus into our own neat little boxes, assuming that He would act, speak, look, and think as we do?  Instead of adjusting our lives to emulate His, we create a “Jesus” that accommodates our own choices and lifestyles.  We’ll do nearly anything to justify our choices and our way of life.  So I guess the question is “How does your life [and mine] measure up to His?”  The Bible clearly tells us that we are to follow in His steps . . . to live as He lived and love as He loved.  But do our lives look anything like His?

            Jesus called them “blessed” who were poor in spirit, who mourned, or were meek or persecuted.  You won’t find that ideology in a lot of leadership or self-help books.  Jesus taught that the greatest among us would be the least, and that the last would ultimately be first.  He raised up the humble.  He sat a child in His lap as an example of greatness.  He lead from the back and served from the front.  He modeled in every way that to really experience life, we have to give it away . . . maybe even all that we have . . . or maybe even our very lives.  Are we willing to follow in His steps and fulfill his calling and purpose in our lives or will be go our own way working hard for ourselves pursing the American dream.

Suggested Reading:
        “Breaking the Discipleship Code” by David Putman

        “Radical” by David Platt

Worship Minister, Gateway Christian Church - www.gcch3.com